Things are frustrating, but far from hopeless. Its the indistinctness and unsurety of what is really going on in the world, how we got where we are, and where we’re going that creates a sense of frustration.

If you were born in the United States you were brought up believing that this country and nearly everything about it was superior to anything that had ever come before. Its just part of the American culture to be sure that ‘our’ way is best. Despite the improbability that the US might be best at everything, the belief persists and it is pervasive. This is one of, if not the, essential element of whats wrong here in the US. We’re so sure we’ve got everything just right. Add that to the deeply ingrained need to be the best and we become unable to see our shortcomings. When you don’t see your shortcomings you don’t see the need for improvement.

If I said to a crowded gathering that there was lots of room for improvement here in the US, most people would agree. At the same time most would defend to their death the belief that we’re the best at everything. Its just that short sightedness that keeps us from looking at neighbors and the world around us, seeing somebody doing something better than us and then adapting our system to improve it.

This country is so afraid of the specter of socialized anything that we can’t possibly consider adapting things like healthcare, education, and social services to include elements from superior systems in use around the world.

The following article isn’t a comprehensive assessment of needed improvements in the US, but it recognizes some important deficiencies and points out ideas for improvement.

We’re headed somewhere, but no one is actually sitting in the pilot’s seat.

We, the passengers, all assume the path we’ve come along determines where we’re going and that there is a pilot gently directing us along that path.

There isn’t.

I believe there may have been one at some point, but that may be one of the fallacies which fuels the plane and keeps it moving. There’s a lot which fuels the plane we’re on, but it’s been quite some time since there was a pilot on board. This isn’t the sort of thing that is easily noticed. We’re all convinced that someone is at the controls. Someone knows where we’re going. Someone is wrestling the stick against the turbulence in an effort to keep us safely aloft. But that’s simply not true. We’re coasting along a coarse charted by circumstance, expediency, and our iniquities rather than our bold vision.

The President of the United States isn’t piloting the plane.

Congress isn’t piloting the plane.

The judiciary isn’t piloting the plane.

Government bureaucrats aren’t flying the plane.

The Fed isn’t flying the plane. Wall Street isn’t flying the plane. Big business isn’t flying the plane. The Common Man isn’t piloting the plane. The 1% isn’t piloting the plane, although they like to think they are. The 99% likes to think they could. They can’t. The Free Masons aren’t flying the plane. There isn’t any secret cabal in the pilot’s seat. The media isn’t flying the plane. NORAD isn’t remotely piloting the plane from under their mountain (they’ve got their hands tied up tracking Santa). The United Nations isn’t piloting the plane. Hizzoner isn’t flying the plane. The Pope isn’t flying the plane because he’s got his hands full with a sinking boat. The Religious Right isn’t flying the plane. The Tea Party isn’t piloting the plane. The Libs aren’t flying the plane. Socialists aren’t flying the plane. Progressives aren’t flying the plane. The Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the free market economy aren’t flying the plane because they don’t exist.

I’m certainly not flying the plane; I have enough trouble keeping order in my own seat row.

Nobody is flying the plane.

At times NobodyisFlyingthePlane will be a diatribe about the current state of affairs in the US and the world at large, at other times it will be an evidentiary discussion of the problem, and most of the time it will just be a collection of links I wanted to share.